Police officer can't let go of closed case

FICTION

"Let It Burn: An Alex McKnight Novel" by Steve Hamilton. Even though Alex McKnight swore to serve and protect Detroit as a police officer, a trip to Motown these days is a trip to a past he'd just as soon forget. The city will forever remind him of his partner's death and of the bullet still lodged in his own chest. So he's more than happy to stay in the little town of Paradise, 300 miles and half a lifetime away. Then he gets a call from his old sergeant. It turns out that a young man Alex helped put away will be getting out of prison. That one big case marked the highlight of his career, before his partner was killed, before his marriage fell apart, before he left Detroit forever. Now that man is about to walk free. When the sergeant invites Alex downstate to have a drink for old times' sake, it's an offer he would normally refuse. However, there's a certain female FBI agent he can't stop thinking about, so he gets in his truck and he goes back to Detroit. While there, he's reminded of something about that last case, a seemingly small piece of the puzzle that he never got to share. It's not something anyone wants to hear, but Alex can't let go of this gut feeling that they arrested the wrong man. And that the real killer not only got away, but went on to kill again.

"The Lemon Orchard" by Luanne Rice. In the five years since Julia last visited her aunt and uncle's home in Malibu, her life has been turned upside down by her daughter's death. She expects to find nothing more than peace and solitude as she house-sits with only her dog, Bonnie, for company. But she finds herself drawn to the handsome man who oversees the lemon orchard. Roberto expertly tends the trees, using the money to support his extended Mexican family. What connection could these two people share? The answer comes as Roberto reveals the heartbreaking story of his own loss - a pain Julia knows all too well, but for one striking difference: Roberto's daughter was lost but never found. And despite the odds, he cannot bear to give up hope.

"Clever Fox: A Dani Fox Novel" by Jeanine Pirro. Prosecutor Dani Fox has handled some gruesome homicide cases, but her investigation into the brutal murder of a local Mafia capo's daughter goes from tricky to downright dangerous. Although the victim has ties to the New Jersey Mafia, she also was secretly engaged in an affair with someone from a rival New York crime family. As if squaring off against two powerful crime families weren't enough, Dani suspects that the murder is more than a simple crime of passion, and getting to the bottom of this grisly homicide puts Dani and her long-term boyfriend, Will, in harm's way.

NONFICTION

"Topsy: The Startling Story of the Crooked Tailed Elephant, P.T. Barnum, and the American Wizard, Thomas Edison" by Michael Daly. In 1903, on Coney Island, an elephant named Topsy was electrocuted, and over the past century, this bizarre, ghoulish execution has reverberated through popular culture with the whiff of urban legend. But it really happened, and many historical forces conspired to bring Topsy, Thomas Edison, and those 6600 volts of alternating current together that day.

Tracing them all in "Topsy: The Startling Story of the Crooked Tailed Elephant, P.T. Barnum, and the American Wizard, Thomas Edison," journalist Michael Daly weaves together a fascinating popular history, the first book on this astonishing tale.

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Police officer can't let go of closed case

'Let It Burn: An Alex McKnight Novel' by Steve Hamilton. Even though Alex McKnight swore to serve and protect Detroit as a police officer, a trip to Motown these days is a trip to a past he'd just as